Musical Director

Jason Thornton is now in his 15th season as Music Director of Bath Philharmonia. During this time he has conducted a huge range of repertoire and worked with some of the world’s greatest soloists. He has also overseen the artistic development of the orchestra, which is now regarded as one of the premiere orchestral ensembles in the South West.

As a guest conductor in the UK he has worked with the Royal Philharmonic, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, The Halle, Philharmonia Chorus, London Philharmonic Choir and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus. Abroad he has conducted the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Kaposvar Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), Jyvaskyla Sinfonia (Finland), Cyprus State Chamber Orchestra and the North West Symphony Orchestra (USA). In recent seasons he has collaborated with numerous international singers and instrumentalists, including Renee Fleming, Joseph Calleja, Sumi Jo, Sir Willard White, Patricia Rozario, Sarah Connolly, Sophie Bevan, Nicola Benedetti, Natalie Clein, Peter Donohoe, Michael Collins, Stephen Hough, Joanna Macgregor, Raphael Wallfisch, Craig Ogden, Jennifer Pike and Alexander Dariescu.

During the last three seasons he has acted as Music Director of Cooper Hall’s Emerging Opera Artists programme, working with many of Britain’s finest young singers, in productions of Britten’s Turn of the Screw (2013), Humperdinck Hansel & Gretel (2014) and most recently Mozart Cosi fan Tutte (2015)

In 2014 Jason recorded his critically acclaimed debut disc for the English Music Label including premiere recordings of music by Cornish composers George Lloyd and Judith Bailey. In 2015 the English Music Label released his second disc in another premiere recording of music by composer Steven Faux.

Jason also has a passion for working with youth orchestras and is a regular guest conductor with National Schools Symphony Orchestra. He has also guest conducted Bristol Schools Philharmonia, Bath School Philharmonic and Somerset Youth Orchestra. Future plans for 2016 include a return to the Bath International Music Festival, his debut at the English Music Festival, the Rachmaninov Paganini Variations with Stephen Hough, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde, Walton Belshazzar’s Feast and Holst The Planet’s Suite.